At the January IAAP dinner meeting, during introductions we were asked to explain in a few words what “Leadership means to you?”, “What does a Leader look like?” “Are you a Leader?.

The majority of everyone in the room started by stating they were NOT Leaders but explained what they looked for in a Leader. This was in interesting experiment.

Do you consider yourself a Leader? If you are not sure….read the following list and decide for yourself.

This is the list of “attributes” compiled by our dinner group for what a Leader should look like:

  • Honest
  • Transparent
  • They must walk the same talk you expect of me
  • Supportive
  • Professional
  • The ability to respect others time
  • Willing to roll up sleeves and help for the goal
  • Someone who can motivate a team toward a common goal
  • A Leader that is open to listening to ideas
  • Respect from the people you work with
  • Appreciative of the work you do each and every day
  • Decisiveness
  • Someone who can delegate
  • Someone who can give me a challenge
  • Respects the skills I have
  • Integrity, helping employee to see potential and encourage to grow
  • Someone who makes you think
  • Open door policy and honesty
  • Someone who helps me find the best in me
  • Someone who leads by example and is willing to work hard
  • Manager that doesn’t micromanage
  • One that thinks ahead
  • Cheery disposition and human
  • Has discernment – knows when to butt kick or relax. Gives jobs that match skills.

How many of these ATTRIBUTES DO YOU have? As Administrative Professionals, we ARE Leaders!! We are called upon and relied upon to keep others organized, we are required to learn and take on new tasks building our skills, and some of us are in charge of entire departments or teams. We have to think ahead, we need to be honest and transparent, we have to delegate and we have to work hard. If you look at the list that was provided above, by a group of people who predominately did NOT identify with being a Leader, you will see that we are all indeed (including the ones providing this list) LEADERS!

Your thinking creates your reality.
~Robin Sharma~